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The FCC assigns separate call signs for each RF payload package. Indeed, the Directv 12 satellite bus carries 2 separate call signs, one for the Ka and one for BSS bands. The last time I dug through the authorizations, this was what I came up with:

Your list is extensive but did not mention:S2679 a duplicate of the KA payload on D-8 (S2132)S2688 a duplicate of the KA payload on D-9S (S2689)S2692 a duplicate of the DBS replacement at 110 later withdrawn (D-13 S2693)

Your list is extensive but did not mention:S2679 a duplicate of the KA payload on D-8 (S2132)S2688 a duplicate of the KA payload on D-9S (S2689)S2692 a duplicate of the DBS replacement at 110 later withdrawn (D-13 S2693)

Doctor j

Yep, I left off some of the confusing entries, although in retrospect I can't remember how I decided which duplicate to leave off.

"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"Directv since 1997Will Work for Beer

You mean Canada does not have slots to themselves and have to fight for 103w? (or is this an Echostar play since they have use of the Ku Ciel bird at 72.7?)

I did not recall intelsat gave up on the 99 bid.

I am not sure I see how 111w fits long term with DirecTV's core "arc" of 99-103. Perhaps internationals and western market locals?

Speaking of Echostar, they have a BSS slot or two for their eastern arc as well do they not?

As I recall the ITU allowed both Canada and the US to grant licenses for 103 for BSS. In the past they have only allowed one or the other to grant licenses for a particular slot. Because the Canadian government worked faster, Ciel did get their application to the ITU first so they have priority for using BSS at 103. The assumption is that should be for canadian coverage basically leaving DirecTV to avoid interfering with their signal but they have also tried to argue that any usage by DirecTV poses an interference risk so shouldn't be allowed. Thus my expectation that it will end up being used for spots for locals as Conus is not going to be possible with out interference problems.

I don't think it will be used for locals as they seem to already have a nice hunk of bandwidth at 103 BSS which is pretty much limited to just that. Specialty programing, like international channels seems likely. It is nicely located near 110 and should work well as part of an SL6. It might even fight into the existing stack plan with 110/119 since it's a shared BSS slot and BSS is already short a few TPs.

I do recall some BSS slots for Echostart and the eastern arc too but don't have details handy.

Yep, I left off some of the confusing entries, although in retrospect I can't remember how I decided which duplicate to leave off.

I guess what would help my confusion is getting an answer to this... How many satellites are they on the hook to launch, and by when. From the listing, it looks like we will see the following launched:

RB-1 (along with DirecTV 14) at 99WRB-2 at 103WRB-4 at 110W

Of these, only RB-1/DirecTV 14 is under contract.

Of course, I also am one who likes to think of these birds as "black boxes" that magicly make them moving pictures show up on that flat panel thing on the other side of the room.

I guess what would help my confusion is getting an answer to this... How many satellites are they on the hook to launch, and by when. From the listing, it looks like we will see the following launched:

RB-1 (along with DirecTV 14) at 99WRB-2 at 103WRB-4 at 110W

Of these, only RB-1/DirecTV 14 is under contract.

Of course, I also am one who likes to think of these birds as "black boxes" that magicly make them moving pictures show up on that flat panel thing on the other side of the room.

That's actually an interesting question. There are certain regulatory milestones that Directv MUST by law meet with regard to these licenses, barring some kind of petition for relief for special circumstances. I think they have a year or so to decide what to do with the RB-2 and RB-4 allocations, but I haven't looked at the timeline lately. Sixto probably has all that stuff memorized by now.

However, it's not just additional bandwidth that has to be considered, it's maintenance of existing bandwidth. Per their recent investor presentations, some of the older Ku birds are nearing their design lifespan. D5 has less than 3-1/2 years of life expectancy left, although it has fuel for quite a bit longer. But it's not just station-keeping fuel that determines lifespan. There's also transponder health, spacecraft electronics/control systems, solar array and battery health, etc. Only Directv's technical staff know how the spacecraft is doing as it gets older, but age-related degradation is a fact of life in engineering. Next up on the "lifespan report" is D4S with predicted lifespan in late 2016, and then D8 and SW1 in mid-2017, and SW2 in mid-2018 . . . so one hopes that Directv has a well thought-out plan for the mid-term future going forward.

"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"Directv since 1997Will Work for Beer

In my parents town of Minot, ND, they finally got locals last year except for FOX, which is odd because in Minot, both FOX and ABC are owned by the same company.

Don't ask me why anyone in that town would sign up for LIL when you still need an antenna for FOX. Also, the "local" affiliate is the Bismarck affiliate 90 miles away.

Not true. The ABC affiliate is owned by Forum Communications and the FOX affiliate is owned by Prime Cities Broadcasting. FOX used to operate the ABC affiliate, but now the CBS affiliate operates the ABC station.

BTW, all of the Big Four networks have full-power transmitters in Minot. That's why they have their own call signs.

I lived in Dickinson until a few weeks ago and the CBS, NBC, and PBS stations had their own call signs. ABC is carried as a digital subchannel off the CBS station, while FOX is operating as a translator.

The reason FOX isn't carried is that News Corp. want a piece of the fees that DirecTV would pay the affiliate. News Corp. isn't approving any new retransmission consent agreement for non-owned stations.